Afghanistan Rural Business Support Project

Closed

The Project objective is to sustainably increase farm incomes in four rural districts in Afghanistan by linking farmers, agri-processors, and traders into profitable production, processing, and marketing industries through the establishment of four Rural Business Support Centers (RBSCs) one district in each of four provinces as follows:o Dawlat Abad District, Balkh Provinceo Bamyan District, Bamyan Provinceo Daman District, Kandahar Provinceo Rodat District, Nangarhar ProvinceThe Project will serve as a locii of rural business activity for both male and female clients, bringing farmers and processors/traders together in four regionally-established RBSCs and providing material and technical assistance to these groups. Incentives for farmers to participate in the Project are: technical and financial assistance for farm-level production and agricultural inputs, and an assured market for their agricultural products. Incentives for processor/trader participation include: physical plant infrastructure housing processing/marketing activities, assistance with capital, and assurance of supply of products. The expected key performance indicators are (i) RBSC established and operating profitably. (ii) Annually 5,000 and 3,600 farm families benefiting from new long- and short-term income generation opportunities respectively with average family income increased by 40%; 9,000 farm families indirectly benefiting through participation in Center activities. (iii) 40 producer/marketing associations and 4 cooperatives established and operating at a profit. (iv) 50% of producer beneficiaries engaged at least once in training and capacity development activities. The proposed project will be implemented over 48 months.